Mara Sov's Chambers, The Dreaming City
Queen Mara Sov: Approach, Guardian. I have an Awoken tale to tell you. One my brother recited to our people's children quite often. Long ago, great kestrels roamed the sky. They built ornate nests in the heavens like conquerors. But in their arrogance, they ignored whispers of storms on the wind... until one day, one such storm swept over them. It collapsed the heavens. Drowned their nests. So they fled, and the storm pursued them. Most died, but a fated few washed upon the shores of a Great Hollow Oak. There, a mother kestrel guarded her clutch. Two shells, bonded inseparably. A daughter: Rega. A son: Ager. Their hearts beat in unison. And they grew: Rega, intuitive and cunning. Ager, loyal but adventurous. Knowing they would one day wish to leave the Hollow to face the storm, their mother plucked feathers from her plumage — and one from each child. For Rega, she crafted a crown to keen her mind, centered by Ager's luminous feather. For Ager, she crafted a scepter cored by his sister's obsidian feather, to guide his spirit. There is truth in this tale. The scepter and crown, they are real. One, I already have. The other, you will retrieve for me. When you return, I will tell you the rest.